reliquary

/ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/

//ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"reliquary" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“reliquary” is uncommon English (frequency #66,984 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,984
frequency rank, English
3,094
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A container to hold or display religious relics.

Corpus desk

Index EN-reliquary · reliquary · English

reliquary · rank #66,984 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,984
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,094
  • PHOTO-FINISH rekindling

Nearest frequency peer: rekindling (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “reliquary”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “reliquary” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for reliquary
PropertyValue
Headwordreliquary
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/
Letters9
Frequency rank#66,984
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “reliquary” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).reliquaryfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “rekindling” (#66,983), “renderer” (#66,985), “repopulate” (#66,986). Among 3,094 “R” headwords, “reliquary” is #66,984. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

reliquary is uncommon English at frequency #66,984 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for reliquary, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French reliquaire (modern French reliquaire), from Late Latin reliquiarium, from rēliquia (“a relic”) (English relic), noun use of reliquus (“abandoned, left behind, relict”), from relinquō (“I relinquish”), from re- (“again”) and linqu… The correct English form is reliquary, spelled R-E-L-I-Q-U-A-R-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A container to hold or display religious relics.
  2. 2
    An object that sustains the memory of past people or events.
  3. 3
    A person who owes a balance.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how reliquary appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “… There is an ivory virgin of the fourteenth century. I once found a buyer for that piece, but the old boy would not sell it.[…]The other piece—the one that concerns us—is known as the Borgia reliquary.”
  2. And whether you think of those little cans as intellectual puzzles or reliquaries or scams, there are surprises inside.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French reliquaire (modern French reliquaire), from Late Latin reliquiarium, from rēliquia (“a relic”) (English relic), noun use of reliquus (“abandoned, left behind, relict”), from relinquō (“I relinquish”), from re- (“again”) and linquō (“I leave”), from Proto-Indo-European *leikʷ-.

This word in other languages

relicario(Español)reliquaire(Français)Reliquiar(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "reliquary"?
"reliquary" is spelled R-E-L-I-Q-U-A-R-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/.
What does "reliquary" mean?
As a noun, "reliquary" means: A container to hold or display religious relics.
How do you pronounce "reliquary"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "reliquary" is /ˈɹɛlɪkwɛɹi/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "reliquary"?
Borrowed from Middle French reliquaire (modern French reliquaire), from Late Latin reliquiarium, from rēliquia (“a relic”) (English relic), noun use of reliquus (“abandoned, left behind, relict”), from relinquō (“I relinquish”), from re- (“again”)... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "reliquary", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

provolone#66,958Samarkand#67,010Sardinian#67,014prayerful#66,948

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list